The remake of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us for PS5 is reportedly moving forward at Naughty Dog. Sony green-lit the remake and they even handed the project to Sony’s Visual Arts Studio. However, Naughty Dog later took over the project and will release it exclusively for the latest PlayStation 5. Bloomberg first reported the news and mentioned that the remake will be an improved version of 2020’s The Last of Us Part II.
Sony had a desire for blockbuster-scale projects from their top studios and the remake is a part of that ambition. The report from Bloomberg also mentioned that the company previously had a plan for the new Uncharted game. Sony had planned to assign a team at Visual Arts to work on a game similar to The Last of Us, and another team to develop a new Uncharted game.
The company also planned Naughty Dog’s supervision while developing the new Uncharted video game. However, the plan quickly got scraped and the company decided to go with the remake of the acclaimed zombie-themed game, The Last of Us. The original idea dissolved because the development would have been expensive and required tons of new designs. So, Sony provided the lower-cost remake for Visual Arts’ head start.
Sony moved the project to Naughty Dog
However, Sony didn’t realize that it would be a good idea to hand the project to Visual Arts. The company reportedly ignored multiple proposals from their rather small group. Once Sony even seemed okay with the project moving forward at Visual Arts but refused an expanded budget for the remake. Later, they moved the project to the Last of Us’s original creator, Naughty Dog to develop and complete the remake for PS5.
Bloomberg also reported that Sony’s Bend Studio wanted to work on the sequel of Days Gone, but the company refused. The company instead tasked Bend Studio to work along with Naughty Dog for a new Uncharted game. Bend removed themselves from the project rather than working with Naughty Dog and is currently working on their own new game.